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The Lifestyle and Health Blog of Mama Nandi Thompson

09/07/2014

At least I knew today was Sunday ; ) A happy day. I have been carefully working our way through our pantry items, as we had too much built up and not enough money to do a big shopping trip. So today, a big check cleared and I woke up and went to Sprouts! Especially exciting since they are having one of their BOGO sales. I was able to get a bunch of organic chocolate bars, Muir Glen pasta sauce and crushed tomatoes, celery, Earthbound spring salad mix, Boulder Creek olive oil potato chips, So Delicious Ice Cream, and Napa valley EVOO, all BOGO. I forgot a few BOGO items- Yogi tea, Wolfgang Puck OG soups, Glutino pretzels, and Daiya cheese. The last one I really need as I don’t seem to be able to tolerate much dairy at all. And I don’t seem to feel satisfied unless I have something gooey and creamy regularly. I make a vegan broccoli MacNCheese that is a-maze-ing! I bought a GF butternut squash ravioli to try. I got 10 pounds of Grassfed Rib Roast- currently one pound is in the crockpot for stew, we are eating our way through a roast coated in balsamic glaze, honey mustard, fresh pressed garlic, fresh garden rosemary and thyme, and rosemary salt. It is excellent!

I think it is one of the first recipes that comes up when you Google Cross Rib Roast recipe.

We made Niman Ranch bacon for breakfast. Too bad those were not BOGO…I usually catch the drippings in a muffin pan and then W and I make a large batch of Banana Muffins. I usually do some variation of the GF Banana Muffin recipe on King Arthur Flour. With coconut sugar and honey and one of my GF flour mixes. Usually rice flour or sorghum flour and some starch (tapioca, arrowroot, potato), with a 1/2 tsp. of Xantham Gum per cup. They always turn out well. A few times ago, they expanded like mountains, with tall peaks, and were so light and fluffy! I am trying to remember what I did to that batch.

After dinner, the kids and I broke into the Ice Cream. I also bought GF cones on clearance, so it will be the first Ice Cream cone I have eaten in a long time. And the first GF DF cone ever. I am going back tomorrow to see if they have anymore!

More schlepping books upstairs today to organize and up and down stairs to take care of J’s needs. Hopefully my butt will look great after all of this. I need to sort through all of them, figure out what we will use and make a sell/give away pile. We have sooooo much downsizing to do. Hopefully we will be able to sell most of our items, especially the nicer clothes and books. By the time we are done with the tiny house, any little bit might make a difference.

More games today- Apples to Apples with all the kids, Harvest Time and A Walk in the Woods with the boys, and Dwarves and Dice with W. And I found his wooden bear puzzle! Awesome! Gotta keep those kids busy. On that note, the boys savored swimming and W calmed down enough to sit still while I trimmed his bangs. That’s right! I have trimmed all three of the kids bangs. This is gonna save at least $50 per month.

We harvested a bunch of heirloom tomatoes and so I blanched and peeled them and made a yummy velvety sauce. It is loosely based on my Italian MIL, Karen’s recipe, rest her soul. I blended 6 large blanched/peeled tomatoes, added a large can and a half of Muir Glen crushed tomatoes with basil, sea salt, fresh garden basil, fresh pressed garlic, and a chopped onion, cooked down, and blended again. The kids like it super smooth- no chunks. I only got a jar and half, but it was worth it. Now we are ready for homemade pasta night and homemade pizza.

After getting W to sleep, I had some time to start looking at knitting and crochet patterns. There are so many out there that I love, but I am trying to find ones that will work with the yarn I have now. I want to use up as much as possible, and then when we get to where we are going, I can start building up my stash again- with yarns that I love for patterns that I love.